I Don't Hate Yellow Star Thistle

In the part of the world I live in Yellow Star Thistle (YST) is a part of life. Most folks around here hate yst. It is an ugly plant, it has these mean sharp thorns, and it is very, very prolific. It is allegedly toxic to cows and horses. And there are a lot of cows around here. I think I am allergic to it. I get these rashes on my feet and and ankles in the summer, anytime I am foolish enough to walk near yst in shorts and sandals, which is often.

Fortunately for us, goats and sheep love yellow star thistle. It is really something to watch a goat chomp down a star thistle plant, thorns and all. We are down to just two goats these days, and while they do a good job of keeping the thistle down in their pastures, they do not have access to all of our property. So yes, we have a yellow star thistle problem, and we are not afraid to admit it!

Last spring our neighbor told us about a program where the federal government would provide a chemical spray that does a good job on the yst. (Thank goodness our country has a socialist agriculture policy!) The product, called Transline, would be provided by the county free of charge. All I had to do was apply it, and allow a person to come onto our property before and after to measure the effectiveness of the spray. It sounded too good to be true.

For the 12 years we have lived on these 3 acres I have tried to maintain the property in an organic way. Recently I have made compromises. I simply do not have the time or equipment to keep the property fire safe, to say nothing of attractive, using only organic techniques. So I have been using some sprays, but only where I felt I really needed to, and never in the gardens or orchards!

But I was at my whits end with this yellow star thistle. It was everywhere, and each year it seemed to get thicker. I called the guy. I got the Transline. I figured out how to apply it. That was not easy as there are so many variables. How fast would the spray come out of the sprayer? How fast would I be walking as I sprayed? How many square feet needed to be sprayed? There was lots of math involved, but I figured it out, and I sprayed. Then I waited for the star thistle.

That year if we had any yellow star thistle I couldn't find it! It was awesome! A whole summer with no star thistle! No rashes on my feet and ankles! No ugly plants! It was too good to be true. But it was true!

This spring came and went with no word from the Transline people. I suspect it was a victim of budget cuts. I wasn't too worried, since there was no yst last year, it couldn't be too bad this year!

Now that July is here, walking around the property I see we have some yst. Not too much, but it is there. I know if I ignore it next year will be awful! I thought about using Roundup on it, but that is a very expensive spray, and in the past it has not been super effective at killing yst. It damages the yst, but it takes a lot of Roundup to kill yst. I didn't want to spend that much money.

I realized yesterday as I finished emptying the second of my two compost piles that I needed more compost. Enter all that yst! I spent the day today building a new, giant compost pile, consisting mostly of yellow star thistle! How can I hate a plant that fills my compost pile? In a couple of weeks all that thistle will be broken down into nice rich compost that I can use in the gardens. And best of all it is free! And by this time tomorrow, we will be yst free again!